Forgotten/Obscure Fashion Designers That Disappeared…

[eugenius]

When thinking about “obscure” designers that have been forgotten about, I’m recalling Creatures Of The Wind from NYFW. The clothes were good, the reviews were good, their TFS threads picked up positive responses here, and it seemed like their trajectory was moving upwards. But they were only hot for what seemed like a NY minute. And now?

 

[nunova]

I mean, are Khaite/The Row/Toteme somehow robbing others of their chances to get rich or get noticed? Come on lol, they are far from being the worst offenders out there. I mean, how much is Prada charging for their piles of nylon trash again?

The mother of their brand DNA, PP, has insane pricing too for her own label. It isn't about their pricing. It's about their blandness and their rabid fanbases. It's more about them abusing Philo's sense of aesthetic and design language, to a point they made so pedestrian as they filled a void left by her quitting. The maximization of boring slop and whole feedback loop created by them is hard to escape, with how much their designs, especially with that horrid fit, the way it is styled... it trickled down to so many mid range labels (indie or bigger) and "traditional" fast fashion.

Another thing that annoys me about them is orange site/instagram plankton making claims how they are supposedly akshually more totally 90s minimalism referential and follow in steps of Lang/Sander/Klein and more recently they are throwing around Japanese designers in context of them, like Yohji. Which feels offensive for me; I say it as someone whose real introduction to fashion was mostly Lang and Sander, so much of their cuts and design philosophy still influences me despite my taste shifting to more maximalist design. I can see bits of them around in these three, but bastardized to a massive degree and slapped on a base created off Philo's Celine with the any bits of fun taken out.

 

[tricotineacetat]

I mean, are Khaite/The Row/Toteme somehow robbing others of their chances to get rich or get noticed? Come on lol, they are far from being the worst offenders out there. I mean, how much is Prada charging for their piles of nylon trash again?

The circumstances under which those brands popped up were following right up the era most of the designers here we active in. The rules of marketing were changing drastically and so were the backgrounds of their creators.

We've discussed it many times over how brands like Khaite or Toteme add nothing new to what Phoebe Philo started. The style and narrative are feeling tired to those who have been following fashion longer - But the customer still seems to be stuck there…

 

[style_expert]

Anne Valérie Hash, she started with Couture and later added RTW. Her first collection was in 2002 and she kind of disappeared after 2014.

Marios Schwab (apparently he now works for Zeus+Dione, didn't know that)
Peter Pilotto (took a 'break' in 2020 but I don't believe they will return)

 

[MulletProof]

*burning sage around this thread because bringing up Khaite and Phoebe Philo together.. bad omen* 🌱

I'll say there's always room for charlatan-type of labels in NYFW. The days of Imitation of Christ were far far more insufferable.. I've never seen that level of talentless smugness again, anywhere, not even among the Vetements/Demna/Lotta crowd. The current copycat brands will be followed by something just as questionable, the problem is the dynamic of the city it's in, not the people that are elevated through that, they're interchangeable..

@nunova I checked out Adrover's IG some months ago, I scrolled down a lot, maybe 5-6 years back?, and I remember thinking that his eye for clothes is still so fascinating, there's just no room in fashion for people like him right now.. and in a way he's outgrown the field, he's too creative in a very transgressive and non-commercial way.. fashion makes even the normies miserable, someone like him has 0 place there..

 

[Machinegumm]

Charles Anastase. Allegedly, he stiffed a bunch of people and then f*** of.

 

[nunova]

@nunova I checked out Adrover's IG some months ago, I scrolled down a lot, maybe 5-6 years back?, and I remember thinking that his eye for clothes is still so fascinating, there's just no room in fashion for people like him right now.. and in a way he's outgrown the field, he's too creative in a very transgressive and non-commercial way.. fashion makes even the normies miserable, someone like him has 0 place there..

I agree; his approach was unique, especially during the moment when he started showing in NY he stood apart from what it was seen as, in a way I feel he paved a way for future more new experimental designers that started popping here years later, as for long time London had monopoly on it.

Imitation of Christ are the forefathers of hacks slashing 2nd hand garments and "remaking" them with lot of smugness, which been seeing more with all talks of sustainability (mostly to virute signal, I feel). Recently I was going through i-D Dec 2000 a lot and they were profiled here, the way they spoke about their work was incredibly insufferable (by the way, Acne got mention in same exact issue).

 

[Kanzai]

I find the Robin Hood mentality quite unreasonable. Fashion survives and evolves through appropriation and inheritance, whether it's a straight copy or a dialectical evolution. Aesthetic loops are an objective necessity for this industry to exist.

I'm not talking about personal taste, we can criticize whatever we dislike, that's totally fine. But the brands like The Row or Khaite aren’t sucking the life out of "real talent", so why are we acting like killing one group will magically save another? Why don't blame the monopolies like LVMH, Kering, Prada Group etc, Conde Nast and those insufferable PR machines like Lucien Pagès? If all the independent brands we hate vanished tomorrow, would designers suddenly get smarter? Would forgotten names magically have a comeback? Be serious.

And I wonder what constitutes "integrity" in fashion in 2025? Is it living in an idealized bubble like Azzedine? Being greedy/ruthless like Prada? Hustling nonstop just to keep designing, like Olivier Theyskens (I'm a fan here, honestly wishing him all the luck)? Or maybe like Rei Kawakubo, who always calls herself a businesswoman who loves making clothes that never seen before? Does CdG churning out pop culture and sports collabs every season (or even that LV gig) really set a bad example for new voices? And regarding the oversaturation of the Phoebe/The Row aesthetic, isn’t this actually the perfect moment for independent, "integrity-driven" designers to step up and shake things up?

At the end of the day, just do whatever you want as long as it's legal and ethical. Because let's be real, no matter who you are, some random tFS-er is going to drag you regardless.

 

[MulletProof]

Charles Anastase. Allegedly, he stiffed a bunch of people and then f*** of.

wait what 😭 😆 tell us more, and isn't he still around?

 

[Kennnnn]

Throwing out a few names maybe not yet mentioned, whose work I really liked -

Koji Tatsuno
Charles Chang-Lima
Jean Colonna

 

[Lola701]

Sure. Keep it coming!

But you know what, I think and I’m convinced that Hedi’s single breast blazers are meant to be worn open and that his whole design process is informed by that.
And I would go further to say that even his double breast blazers are also designed to look even better open than closed.

It shows that he thinks so much about the attitude and in a way that it’s part of his design process with the models and all. But indeed, his clothes demands a lot from a body. Even in terms of height. We, women, could actually get away with his clothes but I find them so unforgivable towards men.

 

[Lola701]

And I wonder what constitutes "integrity" in fashion in 2025? Is it living in an idealized bubble like Azzedine? Being greedy/ruthless like Prada? Hustling nonstop just to keep designing, like Olivier Theyskens (I'm a fan here, honestly wishing him all the luck)? Or maybe like Rei Kawakubo, who always calls herself a businesswoman who loves making clothes that never seen before? Does CdG churning out pop culture and sports collabs every season (or even that LV gig) really set a bad example for new voices?

I totally agree with your whole comment.
About this part, I think integrity is really a personal thing for designers and may look different to each designers but I think in between all situation, the sense of creative freedom that constitute a sort of professional and personal fulfillment is at the heart of things.

The industry has drastically changed in the past 40 years but some of the practices have remained the same. Designers are at the heart of the system but it’s also probably the most fragile position in the whole eco-system.

Those who survived many decades are the ones who have saw it all, experienced the good and the bad and are totally aware of the dynamics of the industry.

I’m still surprised by how much naïveté there’s in the industry after so many years and how unfortunately, a young, gassed up talent can overnight disappear. A lot of times, even when they are super experienced, it’s because of the naïveté.

And it’s a question that I think was discussed in previous threads: what’s the definition of success?
I’m personally happy when a designer can fully express themselves and also make a living out of that. Does it have to be big or small? Does small means integrity and big means selling out?

2 of my favorite designers had two total opposite trajectories in their careers but nobody can tell that they weren’t fulfilled. Nobody can say that Karl or Azzedine compromised. And yet both experience the same kind of critical and financial success.

I think that in the end, everybody meets when they don’t have to compromise.
You got to embrace the good, the bad, find your way around it to make it work for you.

And today, designers have so many examples of trajectories that could inspire them. Success can look so different from one designer to another that maybe sometimes you wonder if the enemy is not their ego.

 

[Melancholybaby]

They were done so dirty by the Vogue Paris gang! literally pushed out of PFW in favor of that one new designer with a lineup of supers (sponsored by VP of course) whose career never even made it to the ranks of one-hit wonders and who is so forgotten I can’t remember the name to add him to this thread lmao. Haakan? Hakan? Hakon? who even cares..

Now there's a name I haven't seen in a while! Hakaan- that hack promoted by Mert Alas and the Vogue Paris gang....all that push and it was over in two seasons lol.

 

[IndigoHomme]

I remember some names from the London Collections: MEN: James Long (at Iceberg), Nigel Cabourn, Agi & Sam, Lou Dalton, Alex Mullins, Christopher Shannon, KTZ, Christopher Raeburn... 2016 was a good year for menswear

 

[MulletProof]

Now there's a name I haven't seen in a while! Hakaan- that hack promoted by Mert Alas and the Vogue Paris gang....all that push and it was over in two seasons lol.

He had Daria and Natalia open his shows and then he was gone.. only to be remembered by his inexplicably fancy casting lol. Ngl when these people suddenly shifted their attention towards Vaccarello in 2013, I thought he'd wind up just like Hakaan.. gone by 2015. You can say all you want about Vaccarello but he's done a lot for someone who started off with truly minimal input..

 

[woemwoem]

Does Francisco Costa count? He wasn't obscure but seems to have disappeared from the fashion scene.

 

[philophile]

This thread is good for most of the part . I am learning from it, even though I do find some of the labels mentioned extremely bland (ironically from the same people who complain about blandness nowadays). It does really show that a lot of the hive mentality in here is due to the same people being around the same age (older millenials it seems), mentioning exclusively brands from the 00s delivering the 'best collections of all time'. I fancy the thought of a boomer dismissing their fashion preferences whilst comparing them with something of the 60s or 70s. I understand that these people are emotionally attached to theses 00s collections, but they sadly grew old and intolerant to change.

I truly and deeply believe many indie labels offer and have always offered so much more creativity than any of the usually worshipped established fashion giants will ever offer, that's not something the extremely conservative mindset here understands. And this is only because they don't count with as many resources as say Dior to spend on marketing campaigns. Their designs must speak alone in order for them to stand out.
In fact, I am sure that the effect a truly creative indie brand has always trickled and still trickles up to the fashion titans. That's the cruel truth.

I used to know a lot of indie brands from the 2010s, but I only hacve Aganovich, Josh Goot, Tome NYC and Ellery (apparently they went bankrupt also without paying their workers) off the top of my head. From the 2000s, I really, really, reaally like Rad Hourani.

 

[philophile]

If you really cared about truly creative indie labels, you'd be now supporting the current ones, even if there aren't many. When the predominant fashion landscape is so oversaturated from the same aesthetic, this is the time for them to stand out. However, there are rarely mentions of them over here. I get it, only 00s fashion counts and for the rest of eternity fashion will always be shite.
But before they go bankrupt like so many other have in the past years, do take a look at brands like Ashlyn, Uma Wang, A.W.A.K.E. Mode, Francesco Murano, Oude Waag, Christopher Esber,.. You might be surprised at least once from their catalogues.

 

[Lola701]

He had Daria and Natalia open his shows and then he was gone.. only to be remembered by his inexplicably fancy casting lol. Ngl when these people suddenly shifted their attention towards Vaccarello in 2013, I thought he'd wind up just like Hakaan.. gone by 2015. You can say all you want about Vaccarello but he's done a lot for someone who started off with truly minimal input..

Vaccarello was more clever. The association with Anja (who at the time also became an editor and had more weight in the Parisian fashion scene). He won a prize if I remember well and had the support of some few French buyers and editors. It was more organic.
You know how French editors loves anyone who is doing some kind of sexy clothes that looks slightly believable in a Parisian environment.

Hakaan’s support was much much much more manufactured.

His castings were fairly impressive though.

But the photographers trying to push their friends never worked.

Remember when Ronald Van Der Kemp got reintroduced through his friendship with I&V? The aesthetic was very VP, using Dewi which was a regular of VP…All of that went flat when he presented his first runway show which was a mess.

 

[Squizree]

Imagine having every resource to limelight you and push for you, and you still flop. Some of these 'creatives' need to take a serious look at themselves.